Russell: The Database

I know this entry is not likely to set many (if any) lawyerly hearts a-flutter, but I thought the discovery worth mentioning in any event, because it shows the value and power of digitization of records and their distribution on the internet. The scholarly, and recondite, journal Russell “is devoted to the study of all aspects of Bertrand Russell’s thought as well as his life, times and influence.” First published in 1971 by McMaster University Library, where much Russellania is held, the journal was recently digitized and made available to the world about a month ago. As the editor, Ken Blackwell says,

The issues come and go and the old ones disappear into history… Even I forgot about some of the articles that appeared. It’s been great to get reacquainted with them as I’ve been putting them up on the web and making them searchable.

It gives them new life. It’s as if they were still contemporary.

To search in the back issues, go to the Journal home page and enter your search terms in the search box in the left sidebar.

A search for “law” or “legal” turned up a great many results, most of them dealing with law as regularity, of course. But for the abstract thinkers among us there was, in the first batch of results, “The significance of contingent relations in the philosophy of law,” by Michael Giudice, which examines “divisions between analytic legal philosophy, moral and political theory, and social scientific investigation of life under law.”